STORM2K

The Associated Press
Updated: 11:30 p.m. ET Nov. 13, 2004

NEW YORK - The rap artist O.D.B., whose utterly unique rhymes, wild lifestyle and incessant legal troubles made him one of the most vivid characters in hip-hop, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday. He was 35.

O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, and was dead by the time paramedics arrived, said Gabe Tesoriero, a spokesman for O.D.B.’s record label, Roc-a-Fella.

The cause of death was not immediately clear, but O.D.B. had recently finished a prison sentence for drug possession and escaping a rehab clinic. He would have turned 36 on Monday.

I have no idea who this is. But this is sad all the same.

Deeply saddened as well. Another great artist and role model for our youth gone.

He was my age, but I feel old! I can't name one song that ODB or Wu-Tang Clan performed.

Today, BET is paying tribute to ODB by showing an encore presentation of his last appearance on "Rap City: Tha Bassment".

His heart was probably damaged from years of cocaine abuse and it just gave out. I don't know who he was but it's still a shame that happened to him at such a young age.